“A sovereign wealth fund (SWF) is a state-owned investment
fund investing in real and financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate,
precious metals, or in alternative investments such as private equity fund or
hedge funds.”

The SWF came into picture after the 2008 crash.

Importance of SWF

It holds significance as nations pension fund could be part
of it. It could be investing in real estate.

(Above are few ones
among the numerous ones which can be sensed easily by common man)

Why create Sovereign Wealth Fund?

Take a country with plenty of oil with projection that oil
will dry up in 20 years from now. The country chooses to pool the profit from
the resource for the benefit of its citizens. Eg: Norway’s SWF is among the
most famous sovereign fund which has grown now to be a massive fund.

Risks and Criticism

The SWF could be used to get political or economic
advantage. The way the SWF’s are used by many countries are unclear. Eg: If the
SWF uses the pension fund in a ridiculous manner, then citizens would suffer
badly.

The above is a very ultrasimplified version on SWF, just to introduce the concept.

Wednesday, 29 June 2016

Hope you have read the earlier theory of motivation, the drive theory of motivation. If not go through it before continuing here. The Clark Hull's drive reduction theory described earlier is reduction of tension when a behaviour is completed. You feel hungry > drive to eat food> ate food> drive reduced (with time hunger/drive comes again, behavior repeated. The issues in describing certain behaviors like sexual motivation etc gave rise to the Arousal theory of motivation. The important factor of the theory is that arousal needs to be optimum for an activity. One of the very often shown picture is that of a smiling gentleman skydiving. What on the world motivates him to do it?. I remember the behavior of a college batch mate of mine, i call him genius ray as he can pass any exam after studying just 3 hours. The hard workers study endlessly and he completes the same task in exactly 2 to 4 hourrs. Once i asked, Dude why you wait till morning 7:00 to start reading for exam at 10:00. His answer was simple, its boring to read before. His level of arousal to read for an exam comes just few hours before the exam.

source:www.verywell.com

Arousal theory of motivation: This theory suggests that human beings need an optimal level of arousal for a behavior.

An aspirant may read psychology at a different level of arousal and GS at another level of arousal. The behavior (to read a subject) various with the level of arousal in him/her. (Variation in arousal regarding activity). The ability to read depends on the level of arousal. In case, you didn’t have a meal or you had a tiring day, then the arousal level may be low. The time spend in reading may go in vain. You may sit with book but the reading might be slow. This is a situation where the arousal is low. Hence, you may need good rest or sleep to bring back arousal to optimum level so that you can read psychology and clear UPSC!(optimum level of arousal needed for an activity)

What I have put as arousal-performance relation is known by a cute name “Yerkes-Dodson law”. This law describes the arousal-behavior curve. Eg: You have studied everything for psychology exam and tomorrow is psychology exam, the performance (motivation to write) vary with level of arousal. If you are too excited or too low (two sides of arousal – low and high), the performance might go down. This is why it’s often asked to take deep breath and take a break before exam. Too much last minute reference etc may push the arousal high and hamper, similarly too much coolness can also spoil the outcome.

To submit the law as is: Yerkes-Dodson law suggests that level of arousal beyond which performance begins to decline is a function of task difficulty.

The issue with the theory is describing and measuring the optimal arousal. The arousal of a person may be different from another. How to measure? How to find the optimal arousal for a particular activity?

The arousal theory considers the individual differences in motivation, differences in motivation with respect to activity. It also can explain the difference in motivation during various times of a day.

In all the theories of motivation, think of situation where it can be applied. An original example cited by you would be of much use than a copy paste from a book. Also keep in mind it will be often asked along with Clark Hull's drive reduction theory. Don't be bogged down by these hard names - Clark Hull or Yerkes Dodson, keep your arousal optimum.

Sunday, 5 June 2016

Psychology uses a number of theories to explain a concept or
term. Same is for “motivation”

Why do you write civil service again and again? What motivates
Leander Paes or Dhoni to practice before each match? What motivated a rich man’s
son to shed his weight?

The theories as single or mostly as a bundle can be used to
explain motivation. The earliest of the theories is Drive Theory. In common
parlance motivation is often called as drive too. What drives you to do it? Is common
way of asking What motivated you?.

source: www.pinterest.com

The drive theory is used to explain behaviors like drinking
water or eating food. The basic biological needs pushes a person to do a behavior
to reduce the need.

The drive is closely related to homeostasis. The drive leads
to behavior for human body to reach homeostasis. Homeostasis is a concept in
physiology which tells that body functions maintain the cells or body in normal
range. Once the homeostasis is disturbed ( hunger/thirst) the body balance
changes. This creates a drive for the human being to act in manner to maintain
this homeostasis.

The theory which was initially used to explain eating or
drinking was later extended to other behavioral patterns. But the extent to
which it can explain all types of motivation is questionable.

Eg: Person may read erotic material to increase sexual
excitement even though sexual activity may not be anticipated. Here the behavior
increase drive.

This and many other behavior shows that drive theory is
insufficient to explain “motivation”.

.. to be continued!

Keywords: biological need, homeostasis

Definition

Motivation: Internal processes that activate, guide and maintain behaviour over time (source: Robert A Baron)

Friday, 12 February 2016

The IAS officer joins as a probationer. He is in PB3
15600-39100 + GP 5400.

He salary would be around 40,500=(pay15600 +GP5400 +18900+600).

During probation: Of this around 10,000 would be mess bill.
A percentage would be retained to be paid by state later.

In short: He would
get around 20,000 in hand.If the probationer

A number of questions in quora and in wiki's which clearly explain this. There are many aspirants who does a guesstimation of salary. Just calculate the Pay+Gradepay+allowance+DA) and its the salary of any job.

Monday, 9 November 2015

The ITU (International telecom unions) had mentioned certain
specifications for 4G. The connections that meet these requirements are known
as “real 4G”. There are lot of companies which advertise as 4G, which may not
meet these requirements but are known as 4G.

Read about the 4G specifications (Click here)

How to find if the connection is “real 4G”or 4G?

Running speed test and comparing with the specifications. It
can be noted that the disclaimer of most companies would have fine prints that
cover the legal hassles if some one
complaints that he/she isn’t getting “real 4G”.

What is 3.9 G?

The improvements in 3G, which are better but doesn’t meet
the 4G requirements, are known as 3.9 G.

What is LTE?

LTE stands for long term evolution. It didn’t meet the
original requirements of 4G, but since it was a significant improvement over
the 3G, it is regarded as 4G.

Saturday, 24 October 2015

The plants
depend on soil for nutrients. In hydroponics the plants get the nutrients
without being planted in soil. It is a method of growing plants using mineral
nutrient solutions without soil. Hydroponics has several branches like
aeroponics, aquaponics etc.